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Dire as the drought is, Swiftmud knows it would take an imminent disaster for officials to agree to such a strict policy.
By JEAN HELLER
© St. Petersburg Times, published November 29, 2000
BROOKSVILLE -- The drought that has strangled the region for two years soon could get uglier and costlier.
Regional water regulators are preparing a recommendation that would ban most outdoor uses of water -- probably lawn watering, car washing and swimming pool filling.
They also are considering fines on businesses, ranches, farms, homeowners associations and public utilities that systematically violate permits for pumping ground water.
The dual steps, disclosed Tuesday, signal just how serious the rain deficit has become. Since June, the deficit has grown from 12 to 16 inches. The National Weather Service forecasts drier than normal weather for the next three months. And winter visitors are returning to put an even greater strain on the region's resources.
Only once since records have been kept has the current two-year rainfall deficit been exceeded, and you have to go back half a century to find it.
"Water levels are declining faster than we would have predicted, even in a dry year, in the aquifer and in lakes," said Granville Kinsman, hydrologic data manager for the Southwest Florida Water Management District.
"The Withlacoochee, Hillsborough and Peace rivers are all at monthly record lows. It is all much worse than at this time last year, when we were led into a springtime crisis."
It would take the threat of almost certain disaster for elected public officials to agree to take the unpopular step of banning all outdoor watering. But if Swiftmud decides it is necessary, and local governments won't take the necessary steps, the agency would impose its will, according to Linda McBride, Swiftmud's communications director.
"The staff first considered going to that extreme last spring, when we were in such bad shape, but we decided it wasn't necessary," McBride said. "But now, in January or February, when the situation has gotten worse and worse and the board is asking what more can be done, we want to have the ban proposal ready to present."
While McBride isn't saying how widespread such a ban would be or exactly what activities would be covered, at least one Swiftmud board member signaled Tuesday that he is ready to discuss stiffer restrictions.
Monroe "Al" Coogler, vice chairman, asked staff at one point if the region could be pulled back to watering one day every other week. He was told that consultants at the University of Florida had looked into that and determined that watering once every other week would do lawns and shrubs no good, and that watering might just as well be banned completely.
Similarly, stiff fines for pumping permit violations might be an unavoidable necessity.
As of last April, the district had issued 8,624 pumping permits for everything from the huge well fields owned by Tampa Bay Water to citrus and cattle operations and neighborhood associations. That month, 227 of the permits were determined to be out of compliance. Either the permit holders were pumping too much or damaging nearby wells or wetlands, three of many ways permit conditions can be violated.
After investigations for mitigating circumstances and helping the majority of permit holders back into compliance, 50 unresolved cases were forwarded to Swiftmud's legal department for action.
If Swiftmud's board approves the plan next month, those violators and others that followed could be subject to fines of a few thousand to millions of dollars. Florida law entitles the water management districts to recover a civil penalty for each offense to a maximum $10,000, and every day during which the violation occurs is a separate offense.
One target of such fines could be Tampa Bay Water, the largest water utility in the tri-county area. As the situation stands now, Tampa Bay Water expects to violate its pumping permit, which covers 11 regional well fields, some time next spring. The permit requires that the utility not exceed a daily pumping maximum of 158-million gallons over a rolling 36-month period.
In part because Tampa Bay Water has had to supply Tampa with up to 40-mgd as the Hillsborough River, the city's normal water source, dried up, the permit cap will be "busted," probably in April, officials predict.
While Swiftmud fines could hurt businesses operating on thin profit margins, they are not likely to influence Tampa Bay Water.
"We don't want to violate our permits, but fines aren't what we need to correct the situation," said Don Polmann, director of science and engineering. "We need new supplies of drinking water. The fines? Bring 'em on. They're just a cost of doing business."